Haley is an Advanced Practice Senior Surgical Physician Assistant at a top-tier academic institution where her main responsibilities include pre-op patient prep and consultation, and first assisting in the Operating Room.
Haley grew up in Paradise Valley, Arizona (suburb of Phoenix) and then obtained her BS in Biology from Arizona State University. Haley initially started her career in medical sales where she was a sales rep for a leading supplier of aortic valves. As part of her sales role, she spent quite a bit of time in the Operating Room supporting Cardiothoracic Surgeons with her company’s valve products. Although she loved sales, she soon realized that she wanted to be on the surgical team actually performing these life saving cases. After spending some time asking around, Haley decided that becoming a Physician Assistant would provide the experience she was looking for. She enrolled in the Physician Assistant program at UAB in Birmingham where she got a lot of Operating Room experience during her clinical rotations and even was able to work on the UAB Aortic Team as her elective of choice. Upon graduation, Haley moved back east where her fiance’s family was and looked for a Surgical PA position in Cardiothoracic Surgery. She wanted to be at an institution where PAs got ample opportunity to first assist in cardiac surgery.
What is your role on the Cardiothoracic Surgery Team? Our cardiothoracic surgery service uses PAs and CRNFAs almost exclusively as First Assists in the Cardiac Operating Room. I would say that about 30% of my time is evaluating patients in the pre-operative and consultation period; 20% is consumed by administrative duties as the Senior Lead Cardiac Surgery PA, and the remaining 50% is first assisting in the Operating Room. I enjoy being on a team that performs the full spectrum of CT surgery procedures - everything from the ‘routine’ CABG to the complex multi-disciplinary open aortic cases. As I have grown in my career, I am finding that more of my Operating Room time is spent on the complex cases, specifically re-do’s and aortic cases.
How does your role as a Surgical PA complement that of a Scrub Nurse on the Cardiac Team? I have tremendous respect for our scrub nurses and have a few with whom our relationships have blossomed into beautiful friendships outside of work. Having a top-tier scrub nurse supporting the cardiac surgery team is so critical. In our most complex cases, time is critical - especially when we have a patient on DHCA due to aortic cross clamping. I have never viewed the team with a hierarchal lens - everybody is critical to the success of the case and a weak link in any part of that continuum can be devastating. I have worked with some of the best scrub nurses around - our institution hand-picks scrub nurses for cardiac surgery, and those picked are usually the top performers from other services.
What is the worst part of being a Surgical PA in Cardiac Surgery? Although rare, the worst part is losing a patient during an elective case. I remember each one of them and they’re all awful. Certainly, losing the younger ones stick out more to me. During my first month on the job, we lost a 24 year old during a complex aortic arch procedure - he was a Marfan patient and we spent over 15 hours in the Operating Room. Nobody wanted to give up on this young man and I’ll never forget how hard we all fought (including the patient). Accompanying the attending surgeon to speak with the family was beyond difficult and wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. You never get used to losing a patient and I never want to get used to it.
How has being a mother affected such a high-intensity career where lives depend on you? To be honest, being a mother has complemented me well - it has provided a meaning to my life that I never knew existed. It has very much been accretive to my career as a Cardiac Surgery PA. Yes, there are times when I’d rather be with her than in the Operating Room, but my hope is that with time, she will see me as a role model who had a dream and worked hard to achieve it. I hope she sees my dedication and service to others as a blessing and something that she wants to emulate with her own life. I cannot wait until she’s older and gets to hear what her mother has the privilege of doing at work.
